The WFP's warning follows a report by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network which said poor families in arid areas of Zimbabwe are running out of food.

"These food security outcomes are expected to persist through March 2019," said the network on its website.

Livestock conditions were also deteriorating across the country due to water shortages and poor pasture, it added.

Zimbabwe is battling an economic crisis that includes cash shortages, high unemployment and lack of investment which has caused the cost of imported food to soar.

Newly-inaugurated President Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed to fix the country's economy after he was sworn-in last week following elections, the results of which were disputed by the main opposition party.